CowPi Journal

As we mingle through this week’s carnival, our focus will move from the outward to the inward.

When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos. (St. Thomas More)

Eric at Ales Rarus writes about some startling bad statements regarding the scientific study of fertility on both sides of the political spectrum in Mangling, Mishandling, and Misrepresentation of Science in the Plan B Debate.

The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. (Mother Teresa)

In 1994 notes Jarrett at Roft Raft, Mother Teresa submitted a powerful brief to the U.S. Supreme Court that contained warnings about the consequences of abortion which are now beginning to become more apparent in Supreme Takedown of Roe v. Wade in a Brief by Mother Teresa.

Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women. (Alice Paul)

Jay at Deo Omnis Gloria observed Amnesty International is considering changing their stance from abortion-neutral to pro-abortion in Amnesty International Going Pro-Abortion? Now is our chance to speak out before this takes place.

All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian. (Pat Paulsen)

Herb at HerbEly comments in Latino Immigration: Removing Stereotypes and Journalistic
Ghosts on journalistic bias covering the immigration debate. A Washington Post OpEd piece relates how Latinos are assimilating in terms of English language, family and work ethic, but ignores the religious dimensions of the story.

It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it. (G.K. Chesterton)

Lee at View from the choir muses a little speculation about Pat Robertson’s claim that he leg pressed a ton in Robertson Chuckles.

A saint isn’t somebody who tries harder, but someone who trusts more. (Peter Kreeft)

Barbara at SFO Mom reflects on the life, work and influence of Saint Anthony of Padua in Saint Anthony, Pray for Us.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. (Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects)

Summarizing a lecture, Christine at Ramblings of a GOP Soccer Mom points out some subtle ways of the devil in Know Thy Enemy.

As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit. (Seneca)

Ian at Musings From a Catholic Bookstore has a proposal for catechizing in the pews in Rebuilding Catholic Culture.

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. (Proverbs 11:22)

Of all places, Elena at My Domestic Church finds confirmation of the challenge and difficulty of older women mentoring to younger women in Sex in the City and the Titus 2 Woman.

God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. (Author unknown)

Eddy at To Jesus Through Mary writes about a another small step in Closer to Seminary. Please include Eddy in your prayers.

The vocation of every man and woman is to serve other people. (Leo Tolstoy)

On the occasion of my daughter’s confirmation on Pentecost, Christina at Confessions of a Hot Carmel Sundae reflects in Tongues of Fire on vocations, specifically the vocation to which most of the confirmed will be called, marriage.

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived. (Joseph Campbell)

Sunday was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Kevin at HMS Blog writes a reflection on why we speak of the Trinity as a “mystery,” and on how we should respond to this mystery in The Mystery of the Trinity.

All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be. (C.S. Lewis)

Penitens at A Penitent Blogger reflects on Questions posed to us by the Beatitudes. (Or should that be hyphenated as Be-Attitudes?)

Definition:   lover, a person who loves (or is loved).

To love someone means to give yourself, at least in part, to another. The more one loves, the more one wants to give. The more one gives, the more one loves.

The following prayer was written by Brother Charles of Jesus. It expresses a deep desire to give to God.

Father,
I abandon myself into your hands,
    do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you,
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
    and in all your creatures—
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul,
I offer it to you with all the love
    of my heart.
For I love you, Lord,
    and so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands,
    without reserve,
    and with boundless confidence,
For you are my Father.

Definition:   beloved, a person who is loved.

The beloved receives the gift of the lover. The lover and the beloved are in love, are love, be-love.

Someone suggested to rewrite the above prayer with my name in it. It transforms into a prayer from God to me.

Mark,
I abandon myself into your hands,
    do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do Mark, I thank you,
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
    and in all your doing—
I wish no more than this, Mark.

Into your hands I commend my soul Mark,
I offer it to you with all the love
    of my heart.
For I love you, Mark,
    and so need to give myself,
To surrender myself into your hands,
    without reserve,
    and with boundless confidence,
For you are mine, Mark.

And now everything changes in a scary and awesome way…

Prayer is looking at God looking at us. (St. Teresa of Avila)

An insight into the Trinity?

In the early morning hour,
just before dawn,
lover and beloved wake
and take a drink of water.

She asks,
“Do you love me
    or yourself more?
Really, tell the absolute truth.”

He says,
“There’s nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone,
    or a world made of redness?
It has no resistance to sunlight.”

— Rumi

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

— William Blake, from “Auguries of Innocence”

To see a World in a Grain of Sand — I am reminded of the Dr. Suess book, Horton Hears a Who!. Horton the elephant holds a flower upon which a tiny little speck rests. This little speck represents the whole world of the Who’s. I remember reading this book as a kid and wondering if our whole universe was contained in a single atom within a much larger universe, and then each atom in our universe contained a tiny universe of its own. As scientists in our universe explore inside the atom, they find smaller and smaller particles, some flying away from each other, some colliding into each other, much like galaxies. And within these atomic galaxies are billions of stars, some with planets, and perhaps a few of those have earth-like places. What is the universe like that contains our atomic universe? What are the billions of universes like with each atom of a grain of sand? Maybe there is a single atom in our universe that contains our universe in some introverted recursion?

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower — The beauty found in God’s created things reflect, in some measure, the beauty of heaven.

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand — An infinite number of numbers stretch out to the left and to the right on the number line. There are an infinite number of numbers between just zero and one, and between one and two, and so on. Just inside any cirlce lies π, whose decimals never repeat, never end. And to find a finite area under a curve, calculus adds up an infinite number of infintely thin rectangles.

And Eternity in an hour — Now, the gift of the present moment, this is where God is. Not in the past, not in the future. Eternity holds every instance; every instance holds Eternity.

Every time I hold the Eucharist in the palm of my hand, I hold Inifinity; I hold the World; I hold Heaven and Eternity. I touch Jesus. I touch God. And God touches me. Not unlike when I hold a grain sand or get lost in infinite wonder at the beauty of a wild flower.